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Chemo: 3 days

Oddly, using a measurement tool that she says is very common in the industry, my odds of recurrence and measurement of mortality are identical whether I do a full eight treatments (four Adriamycin/Cytoxan and four Taxol) or if I just do four rounds of Cytoxan and Taxol together. The former is a 4-month plan; the latter is a 3-month plan.

It is very odd.

I basically had to decide if I wanted to risk not doing the Adriamycin. It would be nice to not have to deal with the side effects, but a little scary at the same time. After mulling it over, I decided to go with the full eight rounds of chemo. I’d hate for the cancer to come back and for me to kick myself for having not done it. Especially since I haven’t started chemo in the timeframe that is recommended.

The only thing that can raise that is to either remove my ovaries or receive an injection that will “put them to sleep” so they do not produce estrogen. Instead of Tamoxifen, I would take Aromatase Inhibitor for five years. This would raise my percentage to 86.9 percent. So that is something to think about over the next few months.

She only ran the mortality stats for if I were taking eight rounds of chemo and five years of Tamoxifen. There is a 91-percent chance that I all be alive in 10 years.

Cheery news, eh?!

Tomorrow at 6:30 a.m., we will report to OU for my port placement. Surgery starts at 8:30 a.m. I’ll be done by 10 a.m.

I start chemo on Thursday at 1 p.m.

P.S. – Meet the newest member of our family. Her name is Frankie (wig manufacturers actually name the wigs using people names!). It is not as blonde as it looks in this picture. I’m keeping Frankie in our bathroom cabinet where we keep all our extra soap. I cannot WAIT for one of the kids to open this cabinet to get soap and have Frankie staring right at him/her.

What those stats don’t take into account is your complete and total awesomeness, so I’d say that boosts those 10-year percentages to 100%, don’t you agree? Thinking of you today as you get your port and take another big step toward annihilating those bastard cells forever.